Appeal No. 95-0715
Application 07/936,942
construction, the appealed claims clearly specify that the
nutrient granule has an average particle size that is
approximately the same as the average particle size of the
feed composition with which it is mixed such that the granules
remain suspended in said feed.
In comparing the claimed invention with the teachings of
Autant, we observe that the reference discloses that nutrient
and therapeutic substances for ruminants may be coated with
the disclosed coating compositions and can be prepared as
pellets in the form of microcapsules which are mixed with
animal feed (col. 5). Autant teaches that the pellets may be
formed by conventional techniques and that
[t]he size of the pellets will depend on the use which
is to be made of them, and will be determined, more
especially, according to the animal for which they are
intended,
which size is in the range of 0.1 to 5 mm (cols. 5-6,
particularly col. 6, lines 7-12). We are of the view that
this disclosure would have reasonably suggested to one of
ordinary skill in the animal husbandry arts that the size of
the pellets should be adjusted within the size range taught in
the reference with respect to the animal to be fed which, of
course, would include consideration of the feed normally
provided to such an animal. Thus, the matter of adjusting the
size of the pellets with respect to the animal to be fed would
have been a matter of routine experimentation within the
teachings of the reference by one of ordinary skill in this
art at the time the claimed invention was made. It is well
settled that in considering the effect of a reference, we must
consider the specific teachings thereof and the inferences one
of ordinary skill in this art would reasonably have been
expected to draw therefrom. In re Fritch, 972 F.2d 1260,
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